After gun brought to Lincoln school, law enforcement shares gun storage tips

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Last week, a 10-year-old Lincoln boy found the key to his parents’ gun lock and took the loaded gun to school.

No one was hurt, and because the parents kept the gun locked, they won’t face charges.

But officials are using the case as an opportunity to talk about gun safety.

They say nearly all child firearm accidents are preventable when gun owners take basic precautions.

“About one-third of the households in the United States are gun owners,” said Capt. Jerry Witte with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office. “So the chances of a child coming across a gun at some time in their life is pretty good.”  

Witte said owning a firearm comes with great responsibility. 

“The responsibility of the gun owner is to keep them inaccessible to any unauthorized user, especially children,” he said. 

Witte said there are many ways to keep the guns safe. 

“If you are not using the gun for home safety or personal protection,” he said, “they need to be unloaded, and the ammunitions need to be kept separately and locked.” 

You can usually buy different types of gun locks at gun shops. They vary in price and level of protection. 

The owner of BigShots Indoor Range in Lincoln said every gun sold is required to come with a cable lock.  

Officials said that even though there are many options, some are better than others, especially if you have kids at home. 

“Keys are the lowest-tech solution that you can come up with,” Witte said.

He said lockboxes that have biometric readers and pin numbers offer more protections.

But experts say even having a regular safe can help in keeping firearms away from children and unauthorized users.